[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] Scout Magazine #III

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a non-professional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and her group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord, Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay, and Swords & Wizardry have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Old School Essentials.

Scout Magazine is a fanzine that comes packed with content that the Game Master can add to her Old School Essentials or change how it is played. This is no matter whether she uses the basic rules of Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy or the advanced options of Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy. Although specially written for use with Old School Essentials, it is easily adapted to the retroclone of Game Master’s choice or even added to Dolmenwood, the setting and retroclone also published by Necrotic Gnome.

Scout Magazine #IIIwas published in November, 2024 by PBenardo. Unlike Scout Magazine #I and Scout #II before it, it only includes two new Classes, but it includes as normal, both new monsters and articles that add new rules and mechanics to the play of Old School Essentials. Unlike the first issue, Scout Magazine #III does not possess anything in the way of a theme, but the monsters do!

Instead of new character Classes, Scout Magazine Issue #III begins with a list of ‘Backgrounds’. Each Background represents a skill or trait that the Player Character gained prior to becoming an adventurer. Some are quite mundane like the Farmer, who can predict the weather, but others are a little odd. For example, ‘Iron Dome’ means that the Player Character has an iron plaque in his head, which grants a bonus on Saving Throws versus charm or suggestion or ‘Graveyard Caretaker’, which enables the Player Character to detect the undead with a successful Listen check! Many are useful, such as ‘Surgeon’ which enables the Player Character to restore a single Hit Point to a wounded creature. There is decent selection, but at just fourteen, there is not a lot of variety to choose from.

One Background from ‘Backgrounds’ is given as optional, but it is actually supported with a whole article of its own. The Background in question is the ‘Psion’ and the article is ‘Psionics’. At the start of every day, the Psion’s player rolls for how many different types of psionic powers the character can use that day. So, the powers are random and the number of times the Psion can use them per day is equal to his Level divided by five. However, bearing magical items prevents the use of psionics and interrupting the use of psionic powers inflicts damage on the user due to psychic backlash. The powers include Astral Projection, Mental Shield, Precognition, Psi Cloak, 15’ Radius, Telekinesis, Telepathy, and more. The stranger ones include ‘Brain Bruise’ which inflicts damage on the nervous system of a creature, whilst ‘Preternatural Hearing’ enables the Psion to listen through solid objects. Of course, ‘Preternatural Hearing’ should really be called ‘Clairaudience’. Overall, the article is serviceable treatment of psionics for Old School Essentials, but its inclusion points to the fact that much of Scout Magazine is going over old new ground for a relatively new rules system—or in the case of Old School Essentials, a relatively new version of an old rules system. Nor indeed are psionics new to Old School Essentials, as for example, the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet for the Planar Compass fanzine has already presented a version.

The first of the two new Classes in Scout Magazine Issue #III is the ‘Wildling Warrior’. This is a tribal warrior with a distrust of anything different who inflicts double damage when he charges in combat with a two-handed weapon, is immune to fear, can forage and hunt, and will refuse to use magical items, though he will accept the use of divine magic. He will learn to strike invulnerable monsters and gains an increasing bonus to hit when wearing no armour. His War Cry can force a Morale Check on creatures of lower Hit Dice. It is difficult to really distinguish the ‘Wildling Warrior’ from the Barbarian Class and thus understand quite what this offers.

The same initially can be said of the ‘Zealot’, effectively a holy warrior or a version of the Paladin. Here the version can be either Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic in alignment. The Lawful Zealot focuses on life-giving magic, repelling undead, and boosting their allies’ abilities on the battlefield; the Neutral Zealot on nature-related magics, interacting with animals, and shapeshifting; and the Chaotic Zealots on controlling the undead and life-draining magic. The Zealot has to use blunt weapons, is immune to disease, and each hour can call upon his deity to cast a spell. The Lawful Zealot can Lay on Hands and at Eighth Level restore life or destroy undead; the Neutral Zealot gains animal form and at Eighth Level, full lycanthropy; and the Chaotic Zealot can drain life and at Eighth Level, can animate the dead. Each type of the Zealot has its own short spell list. The Zealot is three Classes in one, with the Lawful and Chaotic versions being akin to the Paladin and Anti-Paladin with the Neutral Zealot being a Druidic version. This is an intriguing option and something really different.

‘Drow Spells’ provides a spell list for the version of the Drow in Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules. Many like Spidercloak Armour, Spider Bite, and Summon Spiders are appropriately thematic. The last quarter of Scout Magazine Issue #III is devoted to ‘Monsters’, all of which are inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos. Creatures taken from Lovecraft’s writings (and those of others in the same milieu) have a long history of appearing in Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games, going all the way back to the Deities & Demigods sourcebook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition—and indeed, this is not the first time that the Old School Renaissance has pulled a tentacle out of the Cthulhu Mythos, such as Realms of Crawling Chaos: Lovecraftian Dark Fantasy. Here the author gives stats and a little detail on Azathoth, B’yakhee, Cthugah, Cthulhu, Deep Ones, members of the Great Race, I’thaqua, Mi-Go, Nyarlathotep, Shoggoths, and many more. There are some more generic Lovecraftian creatures alongside the well-known ones. These are all serviceable enough and the author promises the reader a supplement to go with them to cover the rituals and spells too.

Physically, Scout Magazine #III is tidily presented. It is very lightly illustrated.

Scout Magazine #III provides the Game Master and her players with a mixture of options old and new—or rather retreads of old worn paths and new. There is some good content in the issue, but just a little too much feels too similar to what has gone on before. That said, these are just the author’s suggestions and if the content of the issue does feel familiar, it is at least giving the Game Master more choice. Of the new, the Zealot Class is interesting, especially the Neutral variant, and the Backgrounds can add a nice bit of detail to any Player Character.